Garment hanger



Dec 27, 1955 H. F. MUELLER 2,728,499

GARMENT HANGER Filed June 1. 1954 INVENTOR. HANS E MUELLER United StatesPatent@ GARMENT HANGER Hans F. Mueller, Seattle, ,Wash., assignortofone-third tol Manfred Selig, Seattle, Wash.

Application June 1, 1954, SeriatNo. 4333325 6 Claims.. curs-94 Garments,such as womensor'children s dresses, are displayed as they'hangindividuall'y ongarmenthangers, suspended from racks. For bestdisplay-the neckandt all closures (buttons, snap fasteners, slidefasteners, etc.) are closed as they would be while the garment is worn.Frequently a buyer wishes to examine-aparticular gar ment more closely,and it must be removed fi'om the hanger. With the'usual typeof hanger;having rigid oppositely directed arms, such removal requires unfasten=ing the fasteners, particularly about the neck of'the'garment. Not onlyis the unfasteningand subsequentrefastening a slow, sometimestedious;and alwaysawkward operation, but there is-the likelihood ofsoiling'ormussing the garment.

It has been proposed heretofore to-hin'ge the arms of a garment hangerso that they can swing'downwardl'yfor removal from and-'insertionwithinthe-still fastened neck of a garment, and to employ spring meanswhichare intended to hold such arms extended when the garment is to besupported thereon. An example of this type. of garment hanger is shownin the' patent to' Wesner; No. 1,066,170, dated July 1, 191 3Such'hangers; lacking a positive lock to retain the arms outspread,anddepending for the purpose upon a thin spring-urged stop plate atan'unfavorable mechanical advantage, depending only' on gravity to collapsethe arms-downwardly, and lacking any positive control over the positiorrof the: arms when they are collapsed, have notproven'whollysatisfactory. The stop plate tends to become deformed andpermits the arms to sag, or the springs strength is'inadequate to pushthe stop plate fully to its holding position; gravitational collapse ofthe two arms does notal'ways occurd'epend ably and conjointly; and thedownswungarrns; freed from controls, can not be held inwardlydrawn toenable ready reinsertion of the hangerwithin' the closed neck of thegarment.

The present invention is ofthe general collapsible type disclosed in theWesner patent; but eliminates the objections noted above to the priorstructure. More particularly, according. tothe present invention, apositive. lock is provided toretain the arms correctly inth'ei'routspread position, and the spring means is arranged to impose a forceon the parts acting to insure'interlocking engagement of the parts; thelock is rugged and unlikely to fail during the life of the garmenthanger; the. collapse ofth'e two arms, including the release ofthe.l'ock, is caused positively and conjointly, yet in a very simplemanner, with the use of the hand which supports thehanger; and the armsnot only when upswung, but also. when downswung, includingtheirpositioning for reinsertion within the garments neck, are at all.timesunder positive control, in the same simple manner.

With such objects in mind, and others as will appear hereinafter, thepresent invention comprisesthe novel garment hanger and the novel parts,thereof, together with the combination and arrangement of the partsrelative'to one another, all as shown in. the accompanying drawings andas. will bemorefully. understood from -the following specification andfrom; the claims which form a part thereof.

Figure 1 is in-partanelevation and in part'a section 2 transverselythrough such a garment hanger, with. the parts shown in thegarmentesupporti'ng position, and Fig; ure 2 is asimilar view, butshowing parts in the collapsed position;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view,.similar to Figure 1, showing infull lines the parts in the. garment support ing position, and indot-dash lines the same parts in the collapsed position.

A base 1, narrow enough to pass readily through the neck of a garment,constitutes the central portion of. the garment hanger, and acentralized suspension member, including the hook 2 and the shank 20,suspends the base 1 from a suitable rack or bar above the base. To thisend the lower end of the shank 2.0 is headed as indi cated at 21 afterpassing through a portion of the base 11 At the opposite sides of thebase are pivotally supported two arms 3. The pivotal support, consistingof a'horizontally disposed pin 30, is located near the inner end ofeach. arm 3, although there remains an extension 31, 34 inwardly of thepivot at 30. This extension may be provided with a stop pin 32' whichis, received in a notch 23 of the base to limit swinging of the arm 3 inits upswinging direction.

Spring means of a particular typeare included as part of this garmenthanger. This spring means, preferably of unitary construction, includesa bow 40, which is desirahly interengaged with the suspension element,for in: stance, being held between beads 24 at the junction. between theshank 20 and the hook 2, so that the bow and the spring means as a wholemay notmove up and. down along the shank. The bow at each end continuesdown: wardly in the. form of legs 4 which extend downwardly to a levelbelow the pivot at 30, and each end of the spring means is formed as anoutwardly directed toe 41. This toe extends outwardly beyond the pivotat 30, and be.- neath that pivot when parts are in the position. shownin full lines in Figure 3, such being the most. relaxed positionpossible. The spring means is not fully relaxed in this position, due tothe fact that the lower portion of each leg 4 engages the end of theextension 3110f the corresponding arm 3 as a stop, and each thereof isformed with a shoulder which interlocks, the one. with the other, toform a positive stop when so. engaged against downswinging of the arm 3.The shoulder 44 on the leg 4 engages a corresponding shoulder on thebrief extension 34. of the arm 3, and the arrangement is preferably suchthat the shoulder 44 is formed as one edge of a narrow hole in the leg 4into which the extension 34 enters and fits'fairly snugly whenupswinging of the arm 3 is stopped by the stop pin 32.

The outer end of the toe 41 is provided with a trans? verse pin 45,which engages within a slot 33 in the arm 3. This slot 33 extendsgenerally lengthwise of the arm 3, that is to say, transversely of'thegarment hanger as a whole when the arms are upswung, and its innerend.terminates, when parts are in this upswung garment-supportingposition shown in full lines in Figure 3, outwardly ofthe pivot pin at39. Furthermore, the toe 41' is biased upwardly so that the pin l5produces an upward moment at the outer end of the arm 3 about the pivotpin at 30'. it is this upwardiy acting spring force which insures theinterengagement of the locking shoulder at 44.

With parts in the locked, garment-supporting position shown in Figure land in full lines in Figure 3, the inter engagement of the shoulders at44 gives positive assur ance'that the hanger will not collapseaccidentally under the weight of the garment, and not onlydoes-the. lockat 44 insure against this, but the' upwardbiaslof theouter end of thetoe 41 further assists in. this.. Asa matter-of fact, the look at 44might be unnecessary. ifthempward. bias at" 45 were suflicientlyforceful"with'relationi-to. the weight of the garment.

When it is desiredto remove the garment from the hanger, it is onlynecessary for the user to grasp the legs 4 of the spring means with thehand that supports the hanger, and to draw the legs 4 together, as shownin dot-dash lines in Figure 3 and in full lines in Figure 2. The pin 45,acting upon the inner end of the slot 33 and later upon the side of theslot as the arm 3 swings downwardly, draws the arms positively inwardly,and at the same time the inward movement of the legs 4 releases the lockat 44. The arms 3 are thus positively rotated and swung downwardly aboutthe pivots at 30, until when parts are in the position shown in Figure2, the hanger is readily withdrawn through the garments neck opening.

Whenever the garment is to be hung again upon the hanger the arms arecollapsed again in the same fashion, and in the position of Figure 2,wherein the ends of the arms'are close together, and both are positivelyso held, it is a very simple matter to insert the hanger through theneck opening of the garment. Upon release of the legs 4, the arms 3 arepositively and conjointly swung upwardly by the outward bias of the legs4 and the action of the pins 45 in their slots 33. In the final portionof the movement the legs 4 will engage the inner end of the extension31, 34 as a stop, but the upward bias of the toe 41, acting through thepin 45, now on the outer side of the pivot at 30, will complete theupward swinging of the arms 3 and the proper reengagement of the lock at44. The pin 32 will seat within its notch 23 and the shoulder 44 will beengaged by the extension 34, and now the garment hanger is fullyextended, its arms outswung and its parts locked in thegarment-supporting position. It may be suspended by the hook 2 from arack with the assurance that it will not collapse, and yet may be purposely collapsed whenever that is desired. In all positions the arms 4are under positive control, and they move conjointly when their movementis required.

The base and the arms have been shown as formed of plastic material,which furnishes a simple and neat way of constructing the device,although it will be understood that the use of this particular materialis not an essential part of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A contractible garment hanger comprising a central base, acentralized suspension member anchored thereto and extending upwardlytherefrom, two arms pivotally mounted at the opposite sides of said baseto swing in a common plane from an oppositely directedgarment-supporting position to a downwardly directed collapsed position,spring means comprising a bow engaged with the suspension member abovethe base, two legs extending from the bow downwardly to a point beneaththe respective pivot axes of the arms, and two upwardly biased toesdirected outwardly from the ends of the respective legs, and of a lengthto terminate outwardly of the corresponding pivot axis when the springmeans is in its relaxed limit position, each arm being formed with aslot directed lengthwise thereof, located generally beneath andoutwardly of the arms pivot, a pin mounted upon the corresponding toeand extending through said slot, said pin and slot constituting a lostmotion connection between the outer end of each toe and thecorresponding arm, located beneath the arms pivot axis, for swinging thearms downwardly upon inward squeezing of the legs, and vice versa, theinner end of each arm when upraised engaging the corresponding leg ofthe spring member to limit relaxation of the spring member and to stopupswinging of the arm, and the upward bias of the toe in such positionurging the arm upwardly.

2. A contractible garment hanger as in claim 1, wherein theinterengaging portions of the legs and of the arms are formed tointerlock when the arms reach their upper limit position and the springbow is relaxed, and to retain the arms upraised until the legs aresqueezed inwardly.

3. A contractible garment hanger comprising a central base, acentralized suspension member anchoredat its lower end to the base, andextending upwardly therefrom, two arms pivotally mounted at the oppositesides of said base to swing in a common plane from an oppositelydirected garment-supporting position to a downwardly directed collapsedposition, said arms having each a slot directed longitudinally andlocated beneath and outwardly of the arms pivot axis when the arm isupswung, and the inner end of each arm having a brief shouldered inwardextension, and spring means formed with a bow anchored to the suspensionmember, above the base, against vertical movement, with two legsdirected downwardly from the opposite ends of the bow to a level belowthe inner ends of the corresponding upswung arms, and with an outwardlydirected toe at the lower end of each leg, each leg having a shoulderpositioned for locking interengagement with its arms shouldered inwardextension when said arm is fully upswung, and a pin carried by the endof each toe, and received in the slot of the corresponding arm, each toehaving an upward bias to urge its arm to'its fully upswung position whenthe legs are relaxed for locking interengagement with the arms inwardextensions.

4. A contractible garment hanger comprising a central base, meanstosuspend said base, two arms pivotally mounted near their inner endsupon the respectively opposite ends of the base to swing in a commonplane from an upswung, oppositely directed garment-supporting positionto va downswung collapsed position, and vice versa, means operativelyconnected to each arm to rotate the arms each positively about its pivotaxis towards and from its upswung position, spring means urging saidarm-rotating means and the arms into upswung position, and locking meansoperatively connected to said spring means and to the arms,respectively, and positioned for; operative and automaticinterengagement when the arms reach their upswung position and thespring means are relaxed, to retain the arms so upswung, butdisengageable upon movement of the arm-rotating means and the armstowards downswung position.

5. A contractible garment hanger comprising a central base, means tosuspend said base, two arms mounted upon the respectively opposite endsof the base each for rotation about a pivot axis located near its innerend, in a common plane betweenan upswung, oppositely directedgarment-supporting position and a downswung collapsed position, each armbeing formed with a slot directed lengthwise thereof, and locatedgenerally beneath and outwardly of the arms pivot axis, a pin extendingthrough said slot, means to draw the respective pins inwardly to rotatethe arms downwardly, or conversely to move the pins outwardly to rotatethe arms upwardly, locking means supported from the base, in position toengage positively the inner end of the respective arms, when fullyupswung, to retain the arms in such position, and spring meansoperatively connected to said pins to urge them outwardly and upwardly,and so to urge the arms into their upswung position, and to said lockingmeans to urge the latter into arm-locking position.

6. A contractible garment hanger as in claim 5, including stop meansinterengageable between each arm and the base, to limit upswinging ofthe arm and to locate it for engagement by its locking means, saidspring means including an element urging the outer end of each armupwardly into its limit position as determined by said stop means, forengagement of said locking means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,066,170

